Apparatus for making flexible endless tubes



Nov. 11, 1952 R. c. BREMER APPARATUS FOR MAKING FLEXIBLE ENDLESS TUBES 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed Jan. 25, 1944 R000 CARL BREWER MWM ATTORNEYJ R. C. BREMER APPARATUS FOR MAKING FLEXIBLE ENDLESS TUBES Nov. 1 1, 1952 4 Sheets- Sheet 2 Original Filed Jan. 25, 1944 INVENTOR RUDOLF CARL BREMER nronusya' Nov. 11, 1952 BREMER 2,617,335 I Fly. 7

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mmvToR RUDOLF CARL BREMER NOV. 11, 1952 R c BREMER 2,617,335

APPARATUS FOR MAKING FLEXIBLE ENDLESS TUBES Original Filed Jan. 25, 1944 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 5 v TNT INVENTOR RUDOZF 6/1/91 BREMER 3} MQ/M ATTORNEYS Patented Nov. 11, 1952 APPARATUS FOR MAKINGv IFEPIXIBLE ENDLESS TUBES Rudolf: Garl Bremer, Zurich, Switzerland Original application January 25,1344 Serial No. 519,610, nowPatent No. 2,589,041, dated March 11*, 1952. Divided and this applicationFebruary27, 1 948, SerialNo. 11,41-"6. SwedfenJam nary-3Q; 1943 5 Claims.

This. application is a: division of my application- Serial No. 519,610, filed. January 25,, 1944, now Patent No: 2,589,041, issued March ll, L952.

The present. invention relates tomachines for the production of. flexible tubes from hand ma terial.

In the processes and appliances hithertoknown' for makingflexible tubes. of band material, this latter iswound round a rigid mandrel or corebar; it is pulled oi the core bar'bymeans; of a. thread device and at the same. time made to form. a pipe.

To pull oi the band; material wound; round. thesolid; core bar requires; an the: part. of: the threaded device the exertion oil-such great powerthat: the use of. the. various dimensions. of hand. material becomes. greatly limited and that. it; is impossible to make each tube diameter with the particular wall thickness. required; furthermore, there: is such a great; friction heat to cope with that. after; a comparatively short working: period it is impossible to prevent the. jamming or seiz ingof the parts. rotating one within th other.

It. has so far proved impossible to overcome these difficulties, more particularly the tearingoff of the material after makin short tube lengths. and as a. result with devices: now known it consequently has not hithertobeen possible to make flexible endless tubes in one: uninterrupted operation by using the processand appliances referred. toabove.

The. present invention: refers, to a process and appliance by means of which endless flexible tubes. can. be made and cables tapedto a practically unlimited extent.v According tothe new process the material is no longer more or less superficially grooved; but on the contrary folded to. a. certain: depth. The method hitherto used for winding the band material is also discarded.

Inthe. process according to. the present invention the band material is wound round arotatingcore or hollow core conveniently provided witha; transfer or conveying thread-'underan initial tension suflicient to take up the torsional stress arising during the subsequent folding process; theband material is guided intot'he folding tools and folded by means of afol'ding tube and foldi'ng core with folding nut-provided with a tapering thread-in such a manner that the individual folding fillets: are lying close together when issuing from the foldingnut.

The. appliance. for carrying out the process is characterised by adjustable braking, mechanism. for taking up the torsional stress. arising in the. course. of the subsequent. folding process, by a rier- 3.

rotating core.- conveniently provided. with a. conveying thread and a folding thread; including; further a foldin nut; the fillets of. the folding thread-are tapering. i.. e. their pitch and pressure angle: are. decreasing; insuch a manner that the trapezoidal shape of the fold produced in the first fillet of the folding thread. gets. grad.- ually steeper until the foldsides are lying close. togetherwhen issuing from thlstool.

The attached drawing shows a. constructionalexample of the: realisation. of. thesubieote of. this: invention. Irrthls-drawingr:

Eig. 1. represents a. tube. drawingpress;

2;-the arrangement of: the band: brakingmechanism: between band drum. and core;

Fig. 3. -the. longitudinal section. of: a brakable' banddrum, takenon line; 3-4; Fig. 22;:

Fig. 4 -the arrangement. of a braking; serpentine way between band drum; and core;

Fig. 5-a--vie.w of a serpentine brake;

Fig. 6-the same, partly in section;

Fig. 7-a section through the tool head;

Fig; 8 and 1-0--a sectionv throughthe folding tools-for making the tube;

Fig; 9 and 11-a section through the folding tools foroablo taping.

The-tube press shown in Fig. 1 consists ofa frame t inwhose rear bearing- 2 is rotati-ngly seated the supporting axle of the band reel car- Onthe bandreel carrier are fastened onbolts 4 the bearing arms 5. These carry the band reels 6 and also the band guiding andbraking mechanism 1 and 8. The band material is wound round the; rotatable corev 9' which is rotatedby any suitable means (not shown) and may be provided; with a flat thread" groove 9" (see Figs. 8 to 11 inclusive), and folded by the'fol'di'ng' tool. arranged. in the bearing; H1 and formed into a tube l'l' whichv is then wound round the drum [2. The bearing arm 5 (Fig. 2') rigidly clamped to the bolt 4 by the screw" I 3, carries a fixedbolt" M on which the. band reel 6 is rotatingly seated. The band llisconveni'ently pressed. onto the reel. by the roller l5 fixed on the lever f6. The band I! (Fig. 2) is guided over the rollers. I;8, 19;, 20,, 2 l;, 22. (Fig. 3) shows.- a constructional. example. of roller 22 in section. On the. stay bolt 2'3.,, by way of. example, the roller 22 is. fixedon the rotating body 25.- seated with ball bearings 24.. By means. of nut. 26,. disc 21,. thrust-balll-bearihg. 28; and re.- tating body 25 the. roller 22: is pressed against the braking disc.29,-which latter is secured. against torsion by means of pins. 39.. The roller. 2?. can therefore. be braked at; will by tightening; the. nut 26.

Figs. 4 and 5 show how the band i1 is guided over an adjustable serpentine way. This serpentine way is constituted by the bolts 35, 36, 31, 38, seated on the bearing arm 5, the rollers 3| and 32 seated on the bolts 33 and 34, and the bolts 4|, 42 fixed on the two-armed lever 40. The lever 40 is seated on the bolt 39. By means of tension spring 43 which is fixed at one end on the adjustable screw 44-the lever arm 40 is pulled. The screw 44 is adjustably fixed in the eye 45 of the lever 5 so that the pull of the tension spring 43 can be regulated.

Fig. 6 shows the bearing of lever 40 and the fixing of bolts 33, 34, 35, 36, 31, 38 on the bearing 7 arm 5, and also the fixing of the mobile bolts 4| and 42 on the lever 40. The drawn band has the tendency to follow a straight line from bolt 35 to bolt 36 (Fig. 5). It is, however, deflected by the bolts 4| and 42 which stand under the pull of spring 43, and consequently braked to a greater or lesser extent according to the tractive force of spring 43.

The tool for pressing the folds is shown in Figs. 8 to 11. The rotating threaded core 50 is provided with a fiat conveying thread 59 which like the core 9 may be rotated by any suitable means (not shown), from which the coiled band material unwinds itself towards the following folding tool. The core 50 is furthermore provided with a threaded rib 5| whose pitch and pressure angle is uniformly decreasing. The thread construction here referred to is clearly shown in Figures 8 to 11 inclusive wherein each subsequent thread is pitched at a decreasing angle to the horizontal center line; the last thread at the right beingalmost at right angles to the center line. Likewise the angle at the sides of the thread are shown as gradually diminishing. Not only is the pitch angle of the threaded rib decreasing but also the width and height of the rib are, as and when required, made to taper to such an extent that the rib entirely disappears at a in Figs. 10 and 11. The threaded nut 52 included in the folding arrangement is designed in a similar manner. The nut 52 is mounted in a wheel and rotated therewith. A moredetailed description thereof will be given further along in the specification. The thread groove 53, which at b in Fig. 10 is still so wide that the band I1 is only bent by the rib 5|, is getting narrower and nar- I rower and the flanks of the groove 53 are gradually standing at an angle to the thread axis. The rib formed in the band H in the first thread is already almost completely compressed in the second thread. When issuing from the last thread the rib is so far compressed that it has a square or rectangular section. The braking and upsetting mechanism hitherto required are therefore becoming unnecessary, thus almost entirely avoiding waste, but also considerably increasing the output by increasing the coiling speed.

According to the kind of band material used, tapering of the thread is required to a greater or lesser extent so that Figs. 8 and 10 and 9 and 11 show the limits of the thread shapes.

Fig. 11 shows the folding tool according to Fig. 8, as used for coating various objects, as for instance cables, rubber hose and the like. In this tool not only the pitch of the rib and this rib itself and also the thread groove 53 are tapered, but the tapering of the thread diameter, both mean and outer diameter, is also provided for, by which means the coil winding is reduced from the diameter of the transfer thread 50" to the diameter of the object (cable) to be coated, in

other words not only is the lead and slant or pitch of the thread reduced, but the outer diameters of the ribs or threads are progressively reduced and form a taper going from left to right.

Fig. '7 shows the drive and the bearing of the thread nut 52. This nut is rigidly connected with the chain wheel 54 which may be driven by means of a sprocket chain from a drive wheel (not shown) and rotates in the bearing 55, which latter is lodged in the bearing stand 3 of the machine frame I.

The transfer thread out on the core or hollow core before the folding thread has such a pitch that the conveying speed of the raw band material wound up with initial tension either exactly corresponds, or is greater than the feeding speed of the folding tool proper, according to the kind of raw material used. The transfer threads are of such design that the conveyance of the band into the folding tools takes place without friction in the working direction of the core axis.

By means of the process according to the present invention and of the appliance provided for carrying it into execution it is possible to make flexible tubes and armourings of every suitable material with great speed in any desired length and diameter. Bands of metal, fibre, paper, tissue, artificial material, may be used in any desired combination for the production of tubes and armourings.

What I claim is:

1. A device for the production of flexible endless spirally wound tubes from band material comprising a plurality of reels for supporting coils of said band material, means for forming a tube of said band material and moving said tube longitudinally, a rotatably mounted internally threaded nut, a rotatable core positioned for receiving said tube and having threads formed thereon for cooperating with the threads of said nut for forming folds in said material, and the threads of said core and nut being formed with each subsequent thread pitched at a decreasing angle relative to the center line of said core with the last thread being substantially at right angles to said center line.

2. A device for the production of flexible endless spirally wound tubes from hand material comprising a plurality of reels for supporting coils of said band material, means for forming a tube of said band material and moving said tube longitudinally, a rotatably mounted internally threaded nut, a rotatable core positioned for receiving said tube and having threads formed thereon for cooperating with the threads of said nut for forming folds in said material, and the threads of said core and nut being formed with each subsequent thread pitched at a decreasing angle relative to the center line of said core with the last thread being substantially at right angles to said center line and the angle of the sides of said threads also gradually diminishing.

3. A device for the production of flexible endless spirally wound tubes from band material comprising a plurality of reels for supporting to said center line, the angle of the sides of said threads also gradually diminishing and the Width and height of the thread rib being tapered to a point at the end thereof.

4. A device for the coating of elongated objects with flexible endless spirally wound tubes from band material comprising a plurality of reels for supporting coils of said band material, a rotatable tubular core for winding said band material thereon, and for the passage of elongated objects therethrough, means formed with said core for moving the wound material longitudinally, a rotatably mounted internally threaded nut, a second rotatable tubular core positioned for receiving said wound material thereon and said elongated objects therethrough, and said second core and said nut being formed with cooperating threads for forming folds in said material.

5. A device for the coating of elongated objects with flexible endless spirally wound tubes from hand material comprising a plurality of reels for supporting coils of said band material, a rotatable tubular core for winding said band material thereon, and for the passage of elongated objects therethrough, means formed with said REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,120,269 Brinkman Dec. 8, 1914 1,980,173 Bauer Nov. 13, 1934 2,002,896 Kopetz May 28, 1935 2,033,717 Kopetz Mar. 10, 1936 2,067,755 Dyer Jan. 12, 1937 2,322,677 Walt et al June 22, 1943 

